Joanne Panayi

I was born in 1970 in the market town of Newcastle under Lyme, close to Stoke on Trent. Pencil and paper, and felt tip pens were my first love, I spent much of my childhood scribbling away on cat drawings, or designing Cinderella’s next stunning dress. I was inspired greatly by the work of L.S Lowry and Beryl Cook, and my local art shop in Newcastle was indeed a magical place to visit. Music was my other passion, and the 70’s music of Gilbert & Sullivan as well as Abba and many others were my favourites at this time, and I would sing into anything that resembled a microphone, praying that one day I would have a bottom as glorious as Agnetha’s!
Life unfortunately took a tragic twist upon the death of my mother, and after finishing school and trying out many different jobs from McDonalds to pub work, I took up sign writing, and escaped with my brushes in 1994 to live in sunny Cyprus. Working as a freelance artist, my job took on many different aspects from traditional signs, to l

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arge scale murals, commercial art and portraits, and I enjoyed the family orientated social gatherings and disco night life, where I would people-watch at leisure.
Using different media is also something that strongly influences my work. I really enjoy being able to move between using pencils, paint and clay, to using fine metals, woods and plastics. Each of the materials work in a completely different way, and the alchemy of manipulating them into my own ideas is quite magical, and sometimes quite messy!
After the clay model is made, it is then cast into resin and hand finished, which takes many hours of sanding, and the application of colours and jewels to finish off. All in all, the "New Shoes" sculptures take a considerably long time to make, but well worth it when they’re done.
Work is never the same, and my job changes from day to day, which suites my inquisitive nature perfectly. I’ve always had difficulty in sitting still!
After the daily start of getting my son off to school and buying the milk, I tend to work in two shifts in a day. From morning til school finishes, then from after Harry’s (my son) bedtime til usually quite late, although having the break of being "mum" in between the shifts is great, cooking tea, games of Connect 4 and practicing his dance moves helps me to refocus.
I work from home, and have a workshop at the back of my house, which helps me to utilise my hours the best. I’m far too impatient to spend time travelling to and from a rented workshop, although when I do go out, I travel a lot by public transport so I can people watch at my leisure.
Relaxing is usually spent spending time with my nearest and dearest. Love and laughter is hugely important, as is curling up with hot chocolate and our long suffering cat.
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